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CFOs and fractional CFOs are turning to AI to handle everything from bookkeeping and cash flow forecasting to board reporting and scenario planning. This article reviews the 15 best AI tools for CFOs in 2025, with features, pricing, pros/cons, and use cases to help you choose the right platform.
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Knolli is more than an accounting or FP&A tool—it’s a complete CFO co-pilot studio. While most platforms specialize in one slice of finance, Knolli handles the entire CFO workflow: from data normalization to investor decks. For fractional CFOs juggling multiple clients, this level of automation is transformative.
Knolli cuts what used to be an 8-hour manual process into 20 minutes. Its seamless integration with Google Drive, Gmail, and Slides removes tool-switching. Unlike many competitors, it’s priced for accessibility, making it viable for both solo fractional CFOs and mid-sized finance teams.
Knolli is a newer entrant compared to legacy FP&A platforms, so CFOs in highly complex enterprise environments may need deeper ERP integrations (currently expanding).
Starts at $39/month
Fractional CFOs manage multiple clients, and finance teams seek all-in-one CFO automation without the high costs of enterprise solutions.
Zeni combines AI-driven bookkeeping and accounting automation with a human finance team, creating a hybrid model that appeals to startups. For fractional CFOs, it acts as a virtual back office that takes routine finance work off the table.
Zeni frees up CFOs from managing transaction-heavy tasks while ensuring compliance and accuracy. Its combination of AI and human oversight provides confidence that numbers are reliable.
The reliance on Zeni’s managed service model makes it less flexible for CFOs who want to control every detail in-house. Costs can also rise as services expand.
Starter plan - $494
Fractional CFOs support early-stage startups by providing comprehensive bookkeeping, tax, and CFO advisory services in one package.
Vic.ai is explicitly built to tackle accounts payable automation. It uses AI to learn from historical invoices and automates classification, approvals, and payments.
Vic.ai reduces AP processing times dramatically. By learning from past invoices, its accuracy improves continuously. This saves both cost and time while reducing human error.
It is a niche tool—strong for AP, but not designed for broader FP&A or reporting. CFOs seeking a full-stack solution will require complementary platforms.
Custom, quote-based, depending on invoice volume and ERP integration.
Mid-market and enterprise CFOs handling large invoice volumes who need to cut costs in AP.
Booke AI focuses on improving bookkeeping accuracy and efficiency. It automates transaction categorization, fixes common errors, and simplifies client collaboration.
Booke AI is a time-saver for bookkeepers and fractional CFOs managing many clients. It reduces manual categorization errors and speeds up the month-end close.
Its scope is limited to bookkeeping; it doesn’t provide advanced FP&A, forecasting, or scenario modeling.
Starts at 50$
Fractional CFOs managing multiple SMB clients who need faster and more accurate bookkeeping.
Trullion is designed for accounting compliance and audit automation, making it particularly valuable in industries with heavy regulatory requirements.
Trullion helps CFOs streamline complex and time-consuming compliance tasks. Its ability to process both structured (ERP data) and unstructured (contracts, PDFs) information makes it versatile.
Its niche compliance focus means it doesn’t offer broader FP&A or forecasting capabilities. It’s best as a complement to, not a replacement for, FP&A platforms.
Enterprise, quote-based, depending on client size and compliance requirements.
CFOs in regulated industries (finance, healthcare, real estate) who need audit-grade automation.
DataRails reimagines Excel as a modern FP&A platform with its FinanceOS system. Instead of forcing CFOs and finance teams to abandon spreadsheets, it enhances them with automation, consolidation, and AI insights. This makes it especially attractive to fractional CFOs and mid-market companies that rely heavily on Excel but need scalable reporting and forecasting.
DataRails allows CFOs to retain 100% of Excel’s flexibility while adding enterprise-grade automation. It frees teams from hours of manual data entry and empowers them to focus on strategic analysis. Its dashboards and reporting features are especially valued by finance leaders who need to present clear insights to boards and investors.
The platform is priced for mid-market and enterprise clients, making it cost-prohibitive for smaller companies. It also requires a structured implementation to align all systems and maximize value.
Typically starts at $24,000–$25,000/year, with costs scaling based on users and integrations.
Mid-sized companies and fractional CFOs who want to keep Excel but need AI-powered consolidation, forecasting, and variance analysis.
Cube is a spreadsheet-native FP&A platform that connects Excel and Google Sheets to a cloud database. It offers real-time forecasting, anomaly detection, and financial modeling without requiring CFOs to abandon familiar tools.
Cube is praised for its fast adoption curve—teams don’t have to relearn financial modeling in a new interface. It reduces manual errors by syncing real-time data while preserving spreadsheet flexibility. For fractional CFOs managing multiple clients, Cube’s multi-entity capabilities are a significant time-saver.
Cube is less comprehensive than platforms like Knolli or Mosaic. It focuses on modeling and forecasting rather than full workflows (decks, investor communications). Costs may also be high for small firms.
Starts at $1,250/month.
Fractional CFOs and lean finance teams who want spreadsheet-native FP&A with centralized data but without enterprise overhead.
Vena is a robust FP&A solution designed for enterprise-level financial planning. It integrates advanced AI forecasting into budgeting and workforce planning, appealing to larger companies with complex needs.
Vena’s scale and flexibility make it a strong choice for large organizations. Its AI-enhanced forecasting improves accuracy at scale, and its collaborative tools ensure smooth workflows across departments.
The platform requires a heavy implementation process and can feel overwhelming for smaller companies. It’s also cost-prohibitive for most fractional CFOs.
Enterprise, quote-based.
Enterprise CFO teams handling large-scale FP&A, budgeting, and workforce planning.
Mosaic markets itself as a strategic finance platform that standardizes KPIs, automates reporting, and generates board-ready insights. It bridges operational and financial data, making it a favorite among high-growth companies.
Mosaic excels in KPI standardization and investor reporting. Its AI narrative assistant helps translate complex metrics into plain English, which is valuable for boards and non-finance executives.
Mosaic is a premium tool. Its pricing makes it better suited for scaleups and mid-market companies than SMBs. Some users find its setup more complex than lighter FP&A tools.
$30,000–$50,000/year, depending on company size.
Scaleups and mid-market CFOs who need consistent KPIs, automated dashboards, and board-ready reporting.
Power BI, developed by Microsoft, is one of the most widely used business intelligence (BI) tools. For CFOs, it’s a cost-effective way to transform raw financial and operational data into interactive dashboards and AI-powered insights. With predictive analytics and pattern recognition, Power BI helps finance leaders not only understand what happened but also anticipate what might happen next.
Power BI’s biggest strength is accessibility and affordability. CFOs can leverage predictive analytics at a fraction of the cost of traditional BI tools. Its tight integration with Microsoft’s ecosystem also makes it a natural fit for companies already using Excel, Teams, or Dynamics.
Power BI has a learning curve for advanced modeling and may not offer the same polish in visualization design as Tableau. Large data sets can also slow performance if not optimized.
Starts at $14
CFOs at small to mid-sized companies who need a cost-effective BI solution for pattern detection, forecasting, and team collaboration.
Tableau is often considered the gold standard for data visualization and interactive dashboards. While Power BI focuses on affordability and Microsoft ecosystem integration, Tableau shines in visual storytelling, making it easier for CFOs to communicate financial performance across departments and to investors.
Tableau delivers best-in-class visuals that turn complex data into engaging narratives. CFOs use it to communicate trends, variances, and projections to boards, investors, and department leaders. Its broad community of users and resources makes it easy to find support and training.
Tableau is more expensive than Power BI and requires governance to ensure consistent data sources across teams. It can also be resource-heavy for smaller firms without a dedicated analyst.
Fractional CFOs and finance leaders who need polished, presentation-ready dashboards for clients, boards, or investors.
Compass AI is built specifically with fractional CFOs in mind. Unlike general BI tools, it packages Fortune 500-grade financial intelligence into a platform designed to help CFOs scale their practices and deliver client-ready insights.
Compass AI’s niche focus on fractional CFOs makes it uniquely valuable. It’s designed to save time by automating recurring tasks like KPI benchmarking and portfolio analysis, allowing CFOs to handle more clients without diluting service quality.
As a newer platform, Compass AI has a smaller ecosystem and brand recognition compared to Power BI or Tableau. Its features are highly specialized, which may not appeal to in-house CFO teams.
Starts at $49
Best For
Fractional CFOs who need to deliver high-end financial intelligence and client reporting at scale.
ChatGPT isn’t marketed as CFO software, but it has quickly become a strategic AI copilot for finance leaders. When integrated with financial data, it can model scenarios, explain variances, and even draft board-ready narratives. For fractional CFOs, it acts as an on-demand analyst, saving time on analysis and reporting.
ChatGPT is flexible and multipurpose—it can adapt to many CFO workflows, from FP&A to reporting. It reduces the time spent drafting financial commentary and allows CFOs to test ideas conversationally before committing resources.
As a general-purpose AI, ChatGPT requires guardrails. Without clean data or proper prompts, results may lack accuracy. It also doesn’t replace FP&A-specific platforms for consolidation or forecasting.
CFOs and fractional CFOs who want an AI copilot for custom modeling, reporting, and financial analysis.
Anaplan is one of the most recognized names in enterprise FP&A and scenario planning. Built for large-scale organizations, it integrates external data sources to support complex planning across finance, operations, and workforce management.
Anaplan is designed for scale and complexity. It’s trusted by enterprises with global operations, where forecasting needs to integrate multiple regions, currencies, and departments. Its predictive capabilities help CFOs anticipate shifts in demand and costs.
Anaplan is costly and complex. It requires dedicated resources to implement and maintain, making it impractical for SMBs or fractional CFOs working with lean teams.
Enterprise, quote-based.
Large enterprises with complex planning needs and CFOs who manage multi-department and multi-region forecasts.
Pigment is a newer player in FP&A, positioned as a modern, more agile alternative to Anaplan. It focuses on collaborative forecasting, flexible scenario modeling, and user-friendly design, making it attractive to mid-market CFOs.
Pigment’s modern design makes it faster to implement than Anaplan. Its collaborative features are built for today’s distributed finance teams, and its focus on flexibility helps mid-sized companies adapt quickly to changing market conditions.
As a newer tool, Pigment has a smaller ecosystem and hasn’t yet proven itself at enterprise scale. Some CFOs may find it lacks the maturity and depth of long-standing FP&A vendors.
Quote-based, SaaS subscription.
Mid-market CFOs who need a modern, flexible planning platform without the heavy implementation of Anaplan.
Modern finance teams can do more with less — but only if their stack is designed for speed, multi-client scale, and investor-grade outputs. That’s why this guide splits tools by the jobs CFOs actually do:
If you want one tool that closes the loop from messy files to board decks and investor emails, Knolli stands out as the only comprehensive CFO studio in this list — now noted here at $39/month — making it the easiest on-ramp for fractional CFOs and lean in-house teams to get real leverage today.
Next steps
For breadth and automation: Knolli (comprehensive studio). For FP&A depth: DataRails, Cube, Mosaic, Vena. For BI: Power BI, Tableau. For bookkeeping/ops: Zeni, Vic.ai, Booke AI, Trullion. For strategy/LLM use: ChatGPT, Anaplan, Pigment.
Knolli for end-to-end workflows and affordability; Cube for spreadsheet-native FP&A; Compass AI for portfolio/benchmarking; Zeni if you want an AI + human back office.
Knolli starts at $39/month (10 seats, unlimited users), making it the lowest-cost all-in-one studio in this list.
DataRails (Excel preserved with FinanceOS and FP&A Genius) or Cube (spreadsheet-native, lighter-weight, faster adoption).
Vic.ai specializes in AI-driven AP (invoice ingestion, coding, approvals) and integrates with ERPs.
FP&A tools (Knolli, DataRails, Cube, Vena, Mosaic) model, plan, and forecast. BI tools (Power BI, Tableau) visualize and analyze data. Many teams use both: FP&A for planning, BI for storytelling, and drill-down.
Knolli does (Make Deck → Google Slides). Mosaic automates investor-ready board reporting; Power BI/Tableau handle visuals but not slide automation natively.
Trullion focuses on ASC 842/IFRS 16, RevRec, and AI audit trails—ideal for regulated industries.
Zeni (AI + human team for bookkeeping, bill pay, tax, dashboards) is purpose-built for startups and fractional CFOs serving them.
Anaplan for global, multi-department planning; Vena for enterprise FP&A with predictive forecasting; Pigment if you want a more modern/agile alternative.
Knolli (Cash Flow Strategist) for rolling forecasts and runway visibility; Finz (if you add it later) for liquidity + credit (note: not in the current list, but often paired).
LLM copilot for variance explanations, scenario ideation, board memo drafting, and ad hoc analytics—especially when integrated with your financial data stack.
Tableau (best-in-class visuals) and Power BI (affordable, Microsoft ecosystem, predictive AI).
Most tools integrate with ERPs, CRMs, payroll, and data warehouses. Your article includes:
Start with Knolli (automation + reporting + decks), add DataRails/Cube if you need deeper modeling in Excel, bolt on Power BI/Tableau for BI, and layer Zeni/Vic.ai for ops automation. Choose Trullion if compliance is heavy.
